


For Those Who Bite Bullets

by Danger_floof_14 (Hades_queen_13)



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Assassins & Hitmen, Assassination Attempt(s), Assassins & Hitmen, Badass Armin Arlert, Badass Mikasa Ackerman, Eren Is a Little Shit, F/F, F/M, Guns, Human Experimentation, Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin) Swears, M/M, Nonbinary Hange Zoë, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Tags Are Hard, Tags May Change, Violence, curse words, lots of curse words
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-16
Updated: 2016-05-16
Packaged: 2018-06-08 18:17:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Underage
Chapters: 6
Words: 9,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6868153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hades_queen_13/pseuds/Danger_floof_14
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eren isn't really sure when his life started becoming one constant downward spiral. Maybe it was when his mom got sick. Maybe it was when his dad left him and his sister behind with no explanation and barely any money. But the fact that the day when someone tries to end his life, is one of the few good days, is saying a lot in his opinion.<br/>And maybe it's the adrenaline talking as he runs for his life down yet another seemingly endless downward spiral, but he has the feeling that his life is about to get even more hectic. </p><p>If that's even possible.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Initiate

**Author's Note:**

> Don't you just love it when your brain decides to give you the best idea for a fic right as you're falling asleep and you have to hurry and right it down before you forget it? Because I sure do. (That was sarcasm)

"Who is he?"

"The son of a doctor who used to work for us. The doctor in question disappeared a few years back, and the organization has been using all their efforts to find him."

A raised eyebrow. "A doctor huh? What was he doing?"

"He was  _supposed_ to be working on a neurotoxin that could be used to take out targets without the need to get closed to them. He was also the head of the science department, so he was in charge of most of the projects going on. But apparently he was working on other things behind the scenes, and when he was found out, he fled, leaving behind a bedridden wife, and two children."

"If we want the father, why go after the kids?" Levi stares down at the file in his hands, trying to make things make sense to no avail. This doesn't look like the kind of person worth killing. Levi's used to dirty old men with records and bloody pasts, not twenty two year old college kids with the bluest eyes he's ever seen. 

"The father can be dealt with later, once the organization finds him." Erwin says, calmly, aa if the two of them are discussing what to buy for lunch instead of the fast approaching death of Levi's next target. "But until then, the children are our next priority. The higher ups have reason to believe that the doctor tested whatever he was working on, on his son."

"You're shitting me." Levi says, not one to show much emotion but even someone as neutral as him can be shocked about something like this. A father using their own child for experiments? How cruel. (And trust him, he knows cruel.) 

"If I was, you'd know." Erwin says knowingly, because he's right. Levi would know. 

"So I have to kill a kid?"

"Not a child." Erwin points out. "He's well above the age of adulthood."

"He's barely twenty."

"He's a target."

"He's a  _kid._ None of this is his fault."

"Are you saying you can't do it?" Erwin asks, fat brows raised in challenge, because he knows that Levi hates that. He smirks when Levi grinds his teeth together, fists clenching and unclenching slowly.

"You said the doc had children, as in more than one. And this  _kid's-"_ Levi makes sure to emphasize the word, just so Erwin gets it. "-file says that he hass a sister. Want me to go for her too?"

"No." Erwin says. "She's been assigned to Hange."

Levi cringes, not feeling sorry for the girl as much as he feels for the scene of her death. Hange is the type of person who loves things dirty- which often makes Levi question his friendship with them. If Hange is involved, then there will be blood, and lots of it.

"Fine. I'll take it." He says, closing the file and standing. "What's the time?"

"Twenty-four hours."

Levi scoffs. "I only need ten."

 


	2. Target

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The highlight of Eren's day is when someone tries to kill him.

The highlight of Eren Alexander Jeager's day, is when someone tries to kill him. 

Not himself of course, though if someone else didn't try it, he was sure he'd hit rock bottom and get around to offing himself. Why you ask? Well let him put it like this: 

Ever since the age of 14, Eren's life has been one constant downward spiral. 

It starts when his mother gets sick. Some form of cancer that Eren would later find out is pancreatic, and after some research, would then find out that it was the most deadly kind of cancer. 

Everyone in his family takes it differently. Mikasa, Eren's adopted sister- because his parents wanted two, and were lucky to get Eren himself, due to his mother's infertility- threw herself into her studies, striving at both school and home to take less work off their parents. She aced all her classes, and always made dinner, kept Eren in line when their parents were too tired to do so themselves. She essentially became the new caretaker.

Their father dealt with it by staying at work for days at a time, coming home late and going back early. He rarely spoke, and when he did, it was never more than a few words, maybe a grunt if someome got lucky.

Eren himself, tries to follow in his sister's footsteps, to be the perfect child as to take some stress off their parents. But even with how hard he tried, it eventually amountedamounted to nothing, as whenever it felt like he was getting close to doing an okay job, life came around and knocked him back to where he'd been. 

Then his father left.

He's not really sure when he noticed it, put the pieces together and digured out that his dad wasn't coming back. By the time it happened, going days without seeing his father was a normal thing, so at first, he thought it was just another long spell of work. He told himself that his father would be back soon. Then a week passed. Than two. And then almost a whole month, and then he and Mikasa figured it out. Their father was gone.

Eren was pissed. How dare that man walk away fromthem without so much as a goodbye? How dare he leave them, two kids, to take care of their mother when they could barely take care of themselves? Eren brooded for days, silently cursing his father's existence, until the anger subsided into numbness, and then melted into panic. The two of them were just kids, neither of them were old enough to have jobs, and their father had left them money, but not enough to keep them afloat for long. The impending threat of homelessness and starvation put both of them on edge, even more so when Mikasa noticed that their mother was getting worse, and that the hospital bills were soon to pile up on them.

They came up with a plan. Mikasa went around the neighborhood, asking for help. Whether it was money or clothes or just a simple meal, her way with words always got them something. She knew it wouldn't keep them going for long, they both did. But for now, it was all they had.

And then, they got their lucky break, by the names of Dot Pixis and Hannes. Pixis- as he demanded to be called, because "who the hell names their son Dot"- was a particularly wealthy individual, who had moved away into a quiet neighborhood for some peace. He was more than happy to give them enough money to pay for food, the house and hospital bills. He had a knack for drinking, and his tastes were especially finely tuned, used to only rich people food, but all in all, he was a nice person. Hannes, like Pixis, was also rather attached to alchohol, though his was much more noticeable. Often times, the smell of vodka clung to him like a cloud, and to be honest, Eren wasn't even sure how the man was still alive. Surely, his liver must have been at its limit. But Hannes was a good person as well, offering to help out around the house when he could, drive them places- when he was sober of course- and even watch over the house and their mother while the two of them went to school- once Mikasa knew that she could trust him.

For a while, they did okay. They started catching up with the medical bills, kept themselves fed, and for the most part, Eren stayed out of trouble. 

And then he turned 18. His mother had been fighting for the longest. Four long, hard years of treatments, tears, trials and tribulations. Four years of Eren and Mikasa busting their asses to make ends meet. Four years of slowly crawling their way up the hill of despair that their father shoved them down. And then on Eren's eighteenth birthday, they went tumbling back down again.

Pixis began to stop giving them money, saying that they were old enough to work for a living and didn't need his help anymore. (Eren was pretty sure he was just low on funds and was tired of sharing.) Hannes was taken into a rehabilitation center after it was discovered that he really was an alcoholic- even though everyone around him, already knew that. And three days after his birthday, Eren's mother relapsed. 

Mikasa- who already had a job since she was three months older- had started working herself to the bone to pay for everything. She took extra shifts and overtime, and even got a second job to try and keep things together. Eren did his best to help, but the fiery spirit and temper he possessed, didn't work well in a work environment, and he got fired from more jobs than he could keep. 

Their mother begged them to stop. To just let go, she was ready, they'd be fine without her. But Eren couldn't let go. He wouldn't. Refused to just let his mother die without fighting a little more. But it wasn't his choice, and a month after her 42nd birthday, she passed away.

Eren didn't cry. He wanted to, oh how he wanted to sob and weep and whine. Buthe'd cried so much that it was hard to do it anymore. He wasn't numb, at least not on the inside. But on the outside, he felt nothing. Mikasa was worse. She had always been slightly passive about everything, the only intensity being in her anger and her need to work harder- even if she was adopted, their mom's determined spirit rubbed off on the both of them. But after their mother's death, she went exquisitely numb, to the point where it should have been an art form. It was rare that she smiled, too busy keeping Eren out of trouble and working to have much fun. Both of them figured it out quick. 

Life was hard, and they had to do whatever needed to be done to get by. 

They sold the house- Eren did cry about that- found an apartment in a nearby district and tried to forget.

So when Eren says that his life has been a downward spiral, he means it. And not in that horribly poetic way either. He's literally inches from rock bottom, holding onto a string attached to the top, seconds from snapping. He's been through a lot of shit, but the fact that someone trying to kill him actually makes his day better, well, that's just the tip top of the cake.

* * *

His horrible day starts at 8:30 in the morning, with him rushing around for another job interview. He showers, puts on the suit that Mikasa laid out for him- what is he, five? He decides to skip breakfast, and to also forget about putting on a tie. (The breakfast thing is because he doesn't have time to make any before he has to leave. The tie thing...well he just hates ties.) He leaves a note for Mikasa on the kitchen counter of their apartment, just in case she gets home before him- not likely, since she's so focused on work, and preparing to go to college in the fall- and leaves. 

The interview goes better than he would have guessed, besides the fact that halfway during it, he realizes that he is not as qualified for this job as he thought. He walks out with his head high, and the sneaking suspicion that this is another job he won't be getting. Mikasa calls to ask him about the interview on her break, and tells him that maybe he can actually get this one. Eren doesn't believe her, but he's learned that it's best to not disagree with his sister. At least not out loud. 

Once Mikasa hangs up, Eren heads to a bar to get some stress relief, only to discover that his wallet was stolen sometime during his bus ride to the damn bar. So not only is he broke, but now he has to walk home. The fact that his apartment is in the opposite side of town doesn't help much either. So he forgets about the beer and just starts walking.

He gets home just after sunset, which according to the clock on the microwave, is at nine. He doesn't smell the fragrant scent of candles so he figures that Mikasa isn't home. She always lights candles when she gets home- for some reason it's not the smell but the fire that calms her down. Eren sighs and toes off his shoes, going to remove his jacket and start walking to his room- to sleep away this excuse of a day- before he feels the cold press of a blade to his throat.

"Move one more step and your dead."

Fucking great.

 


	3. Terminate

Eren will admit it. He's kind of a bad person. Sometimes he stole, sometimes he was an asshole, and he's too sarcastic for it to be okay. But the fact that the universe has decided to descend upon him with all the bad karma in the world, is a little unfair.

He thinks this as he gulps against the knife pressed to his jugular and shifts. The feeling of a knife being held to his throat isn't exactly a good feeling, but it's not the first time. He got into a lot of 'altercations' when he was younger, and sometimes his enemies brought knives to a fist fight. Eren is unfortunately well acquainted with blades. Still. Getting robbed in his apartment is not the best time to be reliveing his past. 

He sighs as he rolls his shoulder, to try and ease some of the ache out of them from the long walk home, and the knife presses harder into his skin. 

"I said don't fucking move." An angry voice says behind him.

"Or what?" Eren asks blandly, not putting any emotion in his words because he's too busy trying to figure out how many ways he can kick this robber's ass before he legs get too sore.

"I'll kill you."

Eren laughs, which in retrospect, probably is the last thing he should do at a time like this. But he can't help it. His brain is already telling him to stop, but he's kind of on a roll. "What does it matter if I move when you're going to kill me anyway?"

The pressure on his throat eases, which means that the person's arm is getting tired, or his assailant is smart and is giving him a false sense of hope. He really hopes it's the first one.

"What makes you say that? I might just be here to rob you."

Eren scoffs. "I've been gone for hours, if there was any time to rob me, it would be when I wasn't here. Instead, you waited until I got back, and you're holding a weapon to my throat, which means that you plan to kill me sometime in the near future. Honestly, I don't see a scenario that doesn't end with me lying in a pool of my own blood so let's just get this over with."

That earns him a tongue click in response, as well as a disgusted tone. "I wouldn't leave you in a pool of your own blood. That's disgusting. Not to mention dis-" The body behind him tenses, knife going completely slack against Eren's neck.

"What? Not to mention what?" Eren presses, because if he's going to die, he's going die the biggest smartass on the planet.

"Shit." The person behind him growls, right before everything goes to hell.

In a split second, Eren senses a few things. He feels the weight of gravity pulling him to the ground as he's shoved from behind, just as he hears the shattering of his windows and the sound of projectile objects flying through his apartment. He hears the projectiles hit his front door, sees the wood of the turn into something akin to swiss cheese. He feels the body beneath him shoving him up roughly, feels a hard slap to the face before he hears a question.

"Is there anyway out of here that's not the front door?"

Eren blinks, having to think for a second, to remove the thought that those holes in his door look an awful lot like bullet holes. "Yeah." He shouts, because now he can hear what sounds like gunfire and it's hard to speak over it. "Fire escape in my sister's room." 

He feels a hand yank at his own, another hand shoving him hard as a voice tells him to lead the way. The gunfire has ceased, though it is quickly replaced by the sound of shouting voices.

"Check the area! I didn't hear anything, so we need to be thorough."

"Fuck!" The person behind him spits, as Eren opens the window leading to the fire escape and climbs out. It's as he turns that he sees the person who's been shoving him all this time.

A man- albeit a pretty short one- with a scowl on his face and blood running down his arm. His eyes are narrow, and incredibly blue, thin brows furrowed together in either pain or anger- probably both. He's short, probably not too short, but definitely shorter than Eren. His skin is pale, like never seen the sun of been in the sun kind of pale, like alabaster, which is a pretty big contrast to both his hair and his clothing, which are both black. 

"Kid." He grits, glaring at Eren like he's not sure if Eren is sane at the moment. (Insanity could very well be a possibility at this point. Between his fucked up life and his fucked up day, he was pretty close.) "I know you've just been almost killed twice, but unless you want to die, now really isn't the time to go into shock."

Eren just blinks. Right. Gunshots. Bullets. Escape. Right. He moves to go down the fire escape, mind muddled and ears kind of ringing because those gunshots- they were definitely gunshots- were pretty loud. He briefly wonders if anyone else heard them, right before the sound of police sirens answers his question. 

The short, pale man lands on the ground right after he does, cursing when he hears the sirens, and cursing even more when he sees the gun pointed at both their faces.

"Nile."

"Levi."

Eren looks back and forth between the two men, the second man devastatingly less intimidating than the first. This second man is a bit more average looking than the other. He's taller, also with black hair, cut short. He has a goatee, and dark eyes. He also has a gun in his hand, with the barrel pointed directly at Eren's forehead, which definitely makes him significantly less average in Eren's opinion.

"That was quite a scene you just caused." The short man- who is apparently called Levi, if average man is to be trusted. "For an assassin, you are not quiet."

"I'm not an assassin."Average man- wait, no, Nile- says. "I'm in a task force. Special ops. Practically military. I don't run alone like you, and I like noise."

"Well I don't." Levi says, way too calm for a man who was just shot at, but then again, Eren has never been the calmest person in the world, so maybe this shit is normal. "I also don't appreciate you trying to take my kill. I get paid for this you know."

"My employer wants him dead."

"Funny you should say that, because so does mine. And I do recall being here first."

Nile smirks. "That means nothing. I have a squad of men ready to pull triggers all around us."

Eren doesn't bother to see if Nile is lying. The gun pointed at his head is a bit more pressing at the moment. 

"You and I both know that I would have no problem taking them all out if need be." Eren feels like Levi is fibbing a bit, no way a man that small in size could possibly take out several men, armed men at that. Then again, he did manhandle Eren sufficiently enough so what does he know?

"Hey guys." He squeaks, getting both men's attention and almost instantly regretting speaking up. "I know you both want me dead and all, but you hear the cops too right?"

Levi curses, at the same time Nile does, and once again, Eren gets to watch as some pretty mind blowing shit happens right in front of him. Levi must've been serious about his physical abilities, because he straight up glomps Nile in the face and sends him to the ground.

Nile growls, reaching fof his gun, only to growl even more when he sees that Levi has already picked it up.

"Sorry Nile." Levi says to him, sounding really unapologetic. "No hard feelings or anything, but this is my paycheck you're messing with here. I can't tolerate that."

Nile grimaces, taking a breath and then shouting, "Fire!"

Now Eren, being a considerably normal person, looks around for an actual fire. Makes sense right? Someone yells fire, so there must be a fire. His brain only has about half a second to realize that fire can also be acquainted with the firing of a gun. Then that thought is abruptly cut short by the sound of a gunshot, and then everything goes dark.

 


	4. Adrenaline

Levi is a man of few words.  
  
  
Actually that's a lie. He is a man of many words, but he's been told that most of them aren't appropiate unless he's planning on starting a bar fight, so he chooses to be quieter.   
  
But when he sees his target fall to his face with a bullet lodged in his head, he has a lot to say. For one thing, he curses, a lot. Not like he isn't justified. That kid's death was supposed to be his damn paycheck. Sure he's still dead, but Levi was supposed to be the one killing him. Not to mention the fact that the one who had him killed is now running away.

"Fucking Nile." Levi bites, as he debates chasing after the man. Better not. Let him be caught by the police- who have apparently shown up, if the loud ass blaring of sirens has anything to say about it. Levi doesn't have timeto deal with the authorities. His headache is bad enough now, add cops to the equation, and things get ugly. 

Levi glances down at his dead target's face. What was his name again? Eric? Evan? Whatever it is whoever he is, he's no longer in the world of the living. He is also leaving blood on the pavement. Disgusting. And sibce Nile decided to run, Levi is going to have clean up. Typically, he'd leave the body there, say 'fuck it' and let someone else do it. By then, he'd usually be tired from the actual killing. But since he didn't actually kill anyone- thanks Nile- he's full or energy, and when he's full of energy, it gets a bit harder to avoid his clean freak tendencies. Of course, it's a lot easier to have no care in leaving a body behind when that body isn't bleeding out onto the ground. Levi never lets there be any blood. Not anymore anyway. 

This admittedly, isn't the first time he's driven himself back to headquarters, irritated with a body in the trunk. When he was a younger, less experienced assassin, he used to have to spend a while cleaning up the scene and driving the body back to dispose of it. Then he learned that there are other, more simple ways of killing that solved his pesky blood issue, and all that was resolved. So, no. This is definitely not the first time he has had a dead guy in his trunk.

However, this  _is_ the first time he's opened the trunk of his car, expecting a dead guy, and instead getting a guy who is considerably less dead than he was earlier.

This kid is a lot of things- bloody, confused, probably a little understandably pissed- but he is not dead. If anything, he just looks like he's been beat up by a bully or something. He sits up and groans and Levi takes a few steps back- he's not afraid of much, but a dead kid suddenly becoming  _un-_ dead? Well that'll do it. 

"Where am I?" The boy asks, blinking around coyly, as if he totally isn't supposed to be a corpse right now. 

Levi doesn't answer him, until the kid notices him and then he only talks out of necessity. 

"You're the guy who tried to kill me earlier!" He says knowingly, his voice cracking a bit when he tries to raise it. He spends a minute clearing his throat, then goes back to glaring Levi down. 

"Yeah." Levi says slowly. He's not gonna lie to the kid. "But to be fair, I didn't actually succeed."  _And apparently, neither did the man who originally killed you, but whatever._

"Doesn't matter, you still tried." The kid says warily, like the sight of Levi makes him uneasy. That's almost laughable- which is saying a lot because Levi doesn't laugh much these days.

"Hey, you don't have a right to be all cagey about me kid. If anyone should be a little worried, it's me. You were dead twenty minutes ago."

"Was I?" 

"Yes! How could you not remember that you were shot in the head?"

The kid shrugs. "The only thing I remember is you shoving me down, gunshots, everything going black and then waking up here with a headache. By the way, your trunk is really small."

Levi clicks his tongue. "Please excuse me for not expecting to have to put a dead kid in the back of my car."

"You're excused."

Levi clicks his tongue again.

"And I'm not a kid." The kid says indignantly, like he's been called a kid a lot. He certainly looks like a kid though, especially when he crawls out of the trunk and nearly falls on his ass. (His legs are probably numb. Levi's trunk is really small, then again, he didn't account for having to fit a large person into it, so not his fault in the slightest.)

"How old are you?" Levi asks, even though he already knows because he read this kid's file, but he just kind of wants to hear it himself. Also, he feels that making conversation will let him delay the terrible panic making its way through his system at the moment.

"I'm 22." The kid says and Levi snorts.

"Yeah? Well I'm almost 30, so to me, you're still a kid."

That earns him a shocked look. "Seriously? You're almost 30? I don't believe that for a second."

"Well I'm 29 so yes, I'm almost 30. Why?"

The kid looks him up and down, bright blue-green eyes traveling up and down his figure before the kid looks away. "No reason."

Levi snorts again, and tries to decide what to do, while the kid tries to get his body in check- because surprisingly, when you're dead for a half hour, your body tends to start shutting down on you.

Technically speaking, the kid could join the organization. He's old enough, and he meets the requirements. And by requirements, Levi means requirement, as in one, because there's only one. And as of now, it's the only safe option for him, or at least the safest option. Leaving now would mean having to deal with anyone else who wants him dead, and of course Nile, who will undoubtedly hear about his recent resurrection and come for him again. But Levi remembers hearing somewhere that he has a sister, or had, if Hange did their job. And if this kid's sister is dead, then that's going to make it a little hard for him to join when the person who killed his only remaining family member will most likely be around him 24/7. 

Levi debates on it, really chews his lip about it. It's a pretty big choice, and not just for the kid. Since he was Levi's target, if he joined, he'd be Levi's responsibility to train and keep track of. Levi has enough people to look out for, and while one more probably won't hurt, he really doesn't want to have to deal with the issues that would undoubtedly come with taking this kid in.

Of course he could always just kill the kid now. No problem with that. Erwin wouldn't have to know that he failed, the kid would be dead, the mission would be considered a success and Levi would get his payment. All would be right with the world.

But Levi gave up on the idea before it had a chance to form in his head. As tempting as it sounded, killing the kid just made his insides feel weird. (What did Hange call it? Guilt?) He figured it wouldn't be right to kill him now, after he failed the first time. He had his chance and he messed it up, now he would have to deal with the consequences. 

"Hey kid." He sighed. "I have a proposition for you."

 


	5. Information

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren experiences a lot of emotions, and Levi...well Levi gets socked in the face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyy! Guess who put up two chapters? Me! Ahahaha I'm so proud of myself that I could cry. Anyway, bow that I finally have my life back together, I can start working on this again. Not saying that the chapters are gonna be regular, cuz life's a bitch and shit happens, but hopefully this time I won't leave you guys hanging for as long as I did. Sorry for that btw. But enjoy the chapter and see ya next time!!

"You failed the mission?"

  
Levi shrugged. "The circumstances made completing it, pretty difficult."

  
Erwin glares at him, in a way that looks nothing like a glare but definitely is to someone who's known him long enough.

"What circumstances?" He grits, after a ten second stare down with Levi that ends with Erwin submitting.

  
"Oh nothing major." Levi drawls, taking his time just to watch the way that Erwin's eyebrow twitches. "Just a squad of MP's."

  
Erwin freezes, blinking at Levi like he thinks Levi is lying. "The Military Police? Why would they have been there? I told the organization that you could handle it."

  
"I could have, and I would have if Nile's squad hadn't shown up and blown the kid's brains out."

  
Erwin blinks again, looking all the world like a confused child. "Wait. I thought you said that the mission was a failure."

  
"For me it was." Levi says. "For them, not so much."

  
"So he's dead?"

  
Levi glanced out of the doorway, where he could see the kid slouching in a chair staring at the ceiling. "I'm thinking that that kid is a lot of things. But dead isn't one of them."

  
"But Nile's squad killed him. You said so yourself."

  
"Oh yeah they killed him alright." Levi chuckled humorlessly. "Kid took a bullet to the back of the skull. He was sleeping with the fishes trust me. I checked myself. There wasn't a pulse to be found. He just didn't stay dead."

  
"Levi, what the hell is that supposed to mean?" Erwin looks fed up now, rubbing his temple as he reaches into one of his desk drawers for was is undoubtedly a bottle of Tylenol.

  
"It means that I put a dead kid into the trunk of my car, drove here, and opened my trunk to a kid who wasn't dead at all. He got shot in the head, died, and then came back to life." Levi bites, just as irritated as Erwin is, if not more. Erwin isn't the one who had blood stains in his trunk.

  
"I need to speak with him."

  
Levi leans out into the hall, clearing his throat to get the boy's attention. He flinches a bit when vibrant green eyes meet his own- they had been so pale an hour ago, so lifeless. "Kid. Get in here, boss man wants to talk."

  
"My name is Eren." The kid whines as he slugs past Levi and then slumps into one of the chairs Erwin's office.

  
"Congratulations." Levi scoffs, rolling his eyes when Erwin glares at him again.

  
"Eren Alexander Jaeger. Born in Rose Memorial Hospital on March 30, 1994 at 11:52 pm. Your mother, now deceased due to a nasty spell of pancreatic cancer, is Carla Jaeger, and your father, Grisha Jaeger is a doctor. You are German and Turkish, and have one half sister named Mikasa Ackerman Jaeger. Am I correct?" Erwin said all of this in confidence, mostly because he knew it was true, and also because the more he said, the more the kid's jaw dropped.

  
"Y-yeah." He said shakily, visibly wary, and even more so when Erwin smiled.

  
"You're probably wondering how I know all that, considering the fact that neither of us have met a day in our lives."

  
The kid shrugs. "To be honest, I'm wondering a lot of things right now. Why my head hurts. Where I can get a sandwich around here. Why your eyebrows are so big. But yeah, that's one of the questions on my list."

  
The eyebrow comment makes Levi snort, which makes Erwin stare at him until he composes himself, before he turns back to the kid. "I know all of this because my associates have been watching you. Keeping an eye on you should the need arise for us to strike. And about 24 hours ago, the need arose, and Levi was sent to take you out."

  
The kid jerks his head in Levi's direction, those bright ass eyes making it kind of difficult for Levi to maintain his usual emotionless expression. "That's why you were in my apartment? To kill me?" He asks, and Levi raises an eyebrow.

  
"What did you think I was there for? I held a knife to your throat."

  
"I thought it was just a scare tactic or something. I thought you were just robbing me!"

  
"Of what?" Levi asks. " You're like twelve, what would I even steal,  your Pokémon cards?"

  
"I'm twenty-two." The kid hisses. "And I don't even like Pokémon. Besides, what would you need to kill me for? I haven't done anything wrong in years."

  
"Enough." Erwin says, darkly calm in the way that only he can be. His next sentence is spoken to the kid. "Your death was supposed to bring your father out of his hiding place."   
Levi noticed the way that kid tensed, the mention of his father seeming to be an aggravating subject.

  
"He wouldn't have come." The kid sighed. "He hasn't been around for years, and I doubt that he would care if I was dead."

  
"And what makes you think that?" Levi asks him, starting to get genuinely interested in the general life of this kid. His father was gone, his mother was dead, and he himself took a bullet to the head and was still kicking. If that in itself isn't a reason to be intrigued, then Levi doesn't know what is.   
Levi doesn't falter at the angry glare the question earns him, though everything in him practically screams at him to look away.

  
"If he cared so much, he wouldn't have left us alone.”

“Us?” Erwin asks, not because he doesn't know, but to keep the conversation going, to keep the information flowing.

“I have a sister, Mikasa, like you said earlier.” Eren sighs. “He left the both of us to fend for ourselves when we were kids. If he cared enough to come back because one of us died, he wouldn't have left in the first place.”

“You said if one of you died?” Levi starts, glancing at Erwin to make sure that what he's getting at, is alright to say. Erwin nods, and Levi continues. “What if your death wasn't the only one being used to draw him out?”

“What do you mean?”

There's a knock at the door before Levi gets to answer, and the three of them are met with the sight of a young blond boy. His sunflower colored hair is pulled into a ponytail, a pair of glasses perched carefully on his nose. Baby blue eyes take in the three of them, before settling on Erwin.

“I'm sorry to interrupt what appears to be a very important session, but Agent Zoe has returned.”

Erwin nods. “Thank you Armin. What's her mission status?”

“Failure, sir.”

Erwin groans, glancing at the bottle of Tylenol longingly. “Alright.” he sighs. “Send her in. And run out and get me some more Tylenol please. I have the feeling I will be needing more very soon.”

“Of course, sir.” Armin smiles, opening the door wider for a bespectacled woman to come waltzing in.

“You failed as well Levi?” she asks, and Levi snorts.

“Technically, yes. But my failure is caused by circumstance, and the fact that my target is apparently incapable of dying.” he gestures to Eren at the last part, and watches as Hange's face lights up.

“What do you mean he can't die? Why can't he die? How did you find out?”

“Hange.” Erwin barks, ordering the woman into silence. “I would ask you to calm yourself, seeing as you failed your mission as well. I believe you were tasked with killing a certain Mikasa Ackerman?”

“She was what?” Eren hisses, standing up and glaring at Erwin, directing a sorry at Hange when she corrects him on the ‘she’ comment with the word ‘they’.

“Oh.” Levi sighed. “You weren't supposed to hear that.”

“What. Was she-” Eren glanced at Hange. “- they. Supposed to be doing?”

“I apologize for keeping it a secret from you, Eren.” Erwin sighs. “But to be fair, your death was expected, so telling you about your sister's expected death wasn't really on my to-do list.

“You were going to kill me and my sister?”

Levi shrugged. “As Erwin said, neither of you were expected to live, let alone find out that we were sent to kill you.”

“You knew?” Eren growled, anger turning on Levi, eyes flashing with fury and something a bit more dangerous.

“I was told about it, yes.”

“Why didn't you tell me?” Eren glares at him, fists clenching and unclenching in an obviously failing effort to stay calm.

“Again, thought you would both be dead.” Levi says, reminding him that things hadn't exactly gone as planned. “And what was I supposed to do when I was the one in charge of killing you? Just bust in and go ‘hey kid, I'm about to kill you and my slightly insane friend is about to shish kebob your sister, just a heads up’. I don't know about you, but to me that sounds pretty fucking ridiculous.”

He expects a lot of things to happen. He expects Eren to cry a little, maybe scream a bit, possibly throw Erwin the bird- he does. What Levi does not expect, is to have a fist flying at his face.

He doesn't register it until it's already hit him, and by the time he realizes that, yes, he was punched, and yes, Eren did it, Eren is already cursing both Hange and Erwin's names as he stomps out of Erwin's office.

“What the fuck?” Levi growls as he rubs his cheek, because damn, that actually hurt quite a bit. Kid has a mean right hook. Levi points at Hange accusingly, though he speaks to Erwin. “Why the hell did he punch me? She's the one who was sent to kill his sister!”

“They.” Hange reminds him, until Levi glares, not in the mood to be corrected, since his face still hurts. Hange shrugs. “And since you also tried to kill him, you were very liable to be punched as well. And you were a bit closer.”

“Go and get him before he does something we will all regret. Or worse.” Erwin sighs, looking like he's close to praying for a break.

Hange takes the initiative, leaving Levi to grumble about his aching jaw, and within seconds, Eren is pulled back into the room by a triumphant Hange.

“What?” he growls, arms crossed while his eyes set themselves on Levi in the most vicious way.

“I understand that you may be upset.” Erwin begins, pausing when Eren snorts at the word ‘upset’. “But since your assigned assassin failed to kill you, we will have to proceed with protocol and offer you two options. Your sister will be offered them as well, and you will be given a few days to think it over.”

Eren huffs, turning his angry gaze to Erwin. “Let's hear it.”

“We would like to offer you a job, here. In exchange for your services, we will pay for your room and board here until you've been trained. Then you will be given a new identity, similar to your own and given assignments.”

Eren's brow quirks. “You want me to be a assassin.”

Erwin shrugs. “The choice is up to you, though I will inform you that your training will be conducted and taught to you by the one who failed to kill you.”

Eren juts his head to Levi. “Him?”

“Yes.”

Eren's gaze narrows. “What's my second option?”

“The second option is to go back to your old life, with the same identity and continue as if nothing ever happened. I warn you, that this may not be the best option for you.”

“And why is that?”

“The people who first succeeded in ending your life, will no doubt find out about your recent resurrection, and I can guarantee that they will be back to finish their job, no matter how long it takes them. You will likely be targeted everyday of your life for the rest of your life.”

Levi can see the kid considering his options, much like he himself had done years earlier. Having a target on your back for the rest of your life compared to becoming an assassin. While the decision would seem easy to anyone not in the chair, Levi knew it was tough to make a choice. No doubt the kid would miss his old life, his old friends. But he had to be considering his own life.

“As I said before, I'll give you a few days to think things through and-”

“The first one.” Eren says bluntly, sounding incredibly sure.

“Really?” Hange wonders aloud, probably shocked at the speed of the kid's choice. Even Levi himself is a bit shocked. He's never seen anyone make the choice that fast, in fact, if memory recalls correctly, he was the last one to answer so quickly, and even he had taken a few hours to make up his mind.

“If what shorty over here said is true, then I've already taken a bullet once.” He ignores the growl that comes out of Levi's throat. “I'd rather not have a gun pointed at my back every time I turn around. I pick the first option.”

“Even if it means having to be around Levi?” Hange asks, seeming to be intent on trying to make Eren reconsider.

“Better him than someone who wants to kill me.” Eren glances at Levi, less angry than before, but still moderately annoyed. “First option.”

Erwin clears his throat, face going back to his mask of calm- even though Levi saw his jaw drop for a second. “Alright. Levi will escort you to your new quarters and you can go back to your old residence to gather up a few of your things. You will be expected to have basic training down in the next sixty days after which advanced training will begin.” Erwin stands and offers Eren his hand, which is taken reluctantly. “Welcome to Recon.”


	6. Welcome

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I updated! Praise me! No I'm kidding, but seriously it took me forever to write this but I did it. Enjoy

When Eren had been told that he would be given quarters, he expected some kind of army like barracks, filled with other people who were unfortunate enough to have their lives targeted. 

He hadn't been prepared for a large room, outfitted with a couch, a television, what appeared to be a small kitchen and a door leading to what he can only guess is his new bedroom.

“This is your new home for the next six months.” the short man- Levi- behind him says. 

“Six months?”

Levi shrugs. “Give or take. You'll have to be conditioned before you can begin training, and that takes about a month or so. Basic training takes two months, and advanced takes three. Six months. Then you'll be given your first job, your new identity, and your technical freedom.”

“Technical freedom?”

“Even though you are employed to Erwin, you're pretty free to do whatever you want, as long as you follow the rules and don't get yourself killed. Even so, I'm sure Erwin will find a way to keep you tied to him and the organization.” Levi sighs, running his hand over Eren's new couch. “He's tricky like that.”

“How did he trick you into staying?”

Levi stares at the floor, expression solemn and kind of sad. “I owe him my life, and the lives of my family.”

Eren lets that sink in, clearing his throat and picking at his shirt.

“But nevermind that.” Levi sighs. “You'll be allowed to go back home and grab a few belongings to make the place seem more homey, I can drive you there if need be. But tomorrow, you'll be required to report for conditioning with the rest of the new recruits.”

“There are more of them?” Eren asks, though he guesses he should say  _ we  _ because he's technically a recruit now.

Levi shrugs. “Of course. There are always a few people who manage to slip through the cracks. Admittedly, there aren't many, but there are some.”

“How many?”

“Seven, including you.”

Seven people. Six, not counting him. Six other people who have had their lives almost taken away from them. Eren wonders if their experiences were anything like his own, minus the getting shot part of course.

“Okay.” he says, just to keep his mind from spouting more thoughts that will be unhelpful. “So there are seven of us, including myself and my sister, got it. But what's this conditioning thing about?”

Levi snorts. “Oh boy, are you in for it. Before you can start basic training, you need to be conditioned, kind of like when you do conditioning in a sport. It's to get you ready for the actual training. You'll learn endurance, gain intelligence, test boundaries, find strengths and weaknesses and learn to assert them properly. You'll learn how to fight, and you'll spar with the other recruits.”

“What about the basic training?”

“Basic is just that, basic. You'll learn the minimal things. Put your fighting skills to use, learn how to use weapons and which ones suit you best. How to kill without being discovered. All that jazz. And the advanced training is the real deal, it's what gets you truly ready for the actual missions. There's a simulation room here that you can use for practice, and trust me, you're going to want it.”

“You guys have all this stuff going on here, but I've never even heard of you.” Eren wonders aloud. “If this operation you have is as big as you make it out to be, how come no one knows about it?”

Levi rolls his eyes in annoyance, an emotion he seems to be using a lot in Eren's presence. “If you knew about us, then we wouldn't be much of an assassination organization now would we? And it isn't like no one in the world knows of us. We're funded by the government, employed by the government, and paid by the government. Pretty much anyone who's anyone in the shitty game of politics knows of us, or has at least heard of us. Most of them have even gone as far as to ask for our services. The only oblivious ones are the citizens, the average Joes who turn on the news and gasp at the mysterious death of yet another person.”

“But if you've really killed as many people as you say, it would be impossible not to notice that something wasn't right.” Eren tries again, because none of this makes sense. People notice when people die, and if it starts happening too frequently, people take action.

“There's a little thing called discretion, kid.” Levi sighs. “How to be subtle, and all that. You'll learn it later. But for now, get some rest. You're going to need it.” With that, Levi leaves, the door closing behind him, leaving Eren to his own devices. 

He decides that trying to get acquainted with his new home can wait until tomorrow, only opening the drawers in the bedroom to grab clothes- that fit somehow, what the hell- and heading to bed.

Eren doesn't get much sleep that night. The bed he lays in os soft, but it's cold, too cold, like he's being held by a ghost and for a while, he just lays there, staring at the ceiling and feeling as if the walls are closing in on him. The only reason that he knows he got any sleep at all is because he gets woken up by a punch to the gut.

He flops out of bed gracelessly, landing on the floor in a heap as he clutches his stomach,  looking up to find a smug looking short man standing over him. Levi.

“What the hell was that for?”

Levi smirks. “Punching me.”

Eren frowns, recalling that yes, he did punch Levi. “So you figured that trying to knock my appendix out of my body would be a good form of payback?”

“It's a start.” Levi shrugs, as Eren sits up. “And you were supposed to be up thirty minutes ago.”

“For what?”

“Conditioning, remember?” Levi says in a tone that definitely suggests that he's calling Eren an idiot in his head. “You're going to be an assassin, but first you need to be trained? Any of that ringing a bell?”

Eren freezes, hands reaching up to slap himself in the forehead. “Shit.” he mutters. “Do you think I'll get in trouble for being so late?”

“That depends.” Levi smirks. “You like running laps?”

“Fuck!” Eren's up in a matter of seconds, sprinting around to get ready. He forgoes a shower, just washing off the essentials in the sink- an action that later earns him a disgusted look from Levi- and throws on one of the many identical outfits in the drawers. He lets Levi lead him through the building to a large door. It's metal, with just a small bit of glass, showing the inside of the room, which is the same dull gray of Eren's clothing. Eren frowns at the scene he sees through the glass. He'd expected to walk in and be glared at by the other recruits for being late, but instead, there are only two people: an angry looking bald man and a girl who looks an awful lot like his sister.

“Levi, I thought you said I was late.” 

“Oops.” the short man answers, tapping his temple with his finger. “Guess my brain took a bit of a hit when you punched me.”

“Seriously?” Eren hisses. “Are you really that petty?”

“Punch me again and you'll find out. Now get in there so I can leave.”

Eren sighs and opens the door, blasted by the cool air that hits him. The door closes behind him loudly, attracting the attention of the two conversing people. The bald man glares at him for a second, eyes flashing to behind Eren, probably looking at Levi, before he smirks. He's tall, his skin tanned with lines on his forehead and dark circles under his eyes. His smirk is almost as unsettling as Levi's- though when that smirk is on the face of someone who tried to kill you less than 24 hours ago, it's easy to be a bit biased- his eyes piercing. But not as piercing as the ones belonging to Eren's sister.

Mikasa freezes at the sight of him, face as unreadable as ever. Then she's stomping toward him, in the same terrifying way that she used to when they were kids and Eren messed up. 

“Eren!” she yells happily, yanking him into a hug that just about chokes him to death- his sister knew her strength but sometimes she forgot that she was using it. Mikasa breaks away from him, hands flying to his face and jerking his head around, like a mother worried for their injured child, and starts firing questions at him. “What happened? I came home and the building was surrounded by police and then this crazy woman came at me. Are you okay? You look sick, you're not sick are you?”

Eren laughs, even when he'd usually be annoyed by his sister's constant worry for him. “I'm fine I swear.” he says, leaving out the fact that he was dead yesterday. 

“What happened to you?”

Eren frowns, not sure what to say because the truth will likely piss his sister off but she knows when he's lying and she'll likely do that mom thing where she stares at him until he gives in. So Eren sticks to the less confrontational route and tells the truth, though he starts regretting his decision when his sister's expression goes from motherly worry to motherly fury. He kind of hopes that Levi never meets his sister, because God help him if he does. (He may be a trained killer, but Mikasa is pretty fucking scary when she's pissed, he knows firsthand.) 

“Someone was trying to kill us because of dad?” Mikasa growls, voice low and deadly, the way it always gets when she's extremely angry. She had that sort of soft anger, the kind that she would keep quiet until she boiled over. She looked hurt, betrayed almost, then she shifted to resentment. “They do know that he wouldn't come back for that, right?”

“I told them that.” Eren sighs. “They think otherwise.”

“Then they're idiots.” Mikasa deadpans.

Eren chuckles. “Yeah.”

“But I think we can stop worrying about that.” Mikasa smirks. “I think our new problem is the fact that we have to exercise.”

Eren groans mournfully.

* * *

 

Levi watches quietly as Eren and his sister walk into their old apartment, stepping on broken glass and moving around police tape. The girl presses her fingers to the wall, tracing over bullet holes with a troubled expression. The kid wanders around, grabbing personal items. Clothes and other things that he feels he might need. His sister had already done so, moving much faster than her brother. Now she looks around at everything almost sadly. 

“Hey Eren.” she calls once she eyes something in the living room that Levi can't see.

“Yeah.” Eren answers from his room, poking his head out so his sister can see him. “What's wrong?”

The girl shakes her head. “Nothing.” she says before she smiles at the couch. “Just remembering that one time that you walked in on me and that guy from the gym.”

Eren's face turns disgusted. “Did you really have to remind me about that? That guy was a creep.”

“He seemed to like you.”

Eren snorts. “He must have had something wrong with him then.”

“He said he swung both ways.”

**“** I know I like dick but he couldn't have made me come near his with a ten foot pole.” Eren shuddered at some memory. “God that shit was so freaky. Ugh, if I had food stomach, I'd be puking right now.”

The girl snickered, while Levi snorted. 

“Come on.” Levi said, interrupting their little remembrance fest. “We need to get back. Erwin could only buy us so much time to be here. Pretty soon the cops are gonna come back and the last thing they need to see is the two tenants who lived here, especially when one of them is supposed to be dead.”

“Shouldn't we both be dead?” Mikasa asks. “Since we kind of had assassins sent after us?”

“Yeah, but him especially.” Levi says, frowning when he sees Eren's panicked expression, hands waving in front of his neck.  _ Don't do it. _

“Why?”

Eren's gestures get even more frantic, eyes widening as Levi frowns. 

“I'll let him tell you.” Levi says, deciding that he may as well let the kid tell her himself.

Eren freezes under the scrutiny of his sister, gulping when she levels him with a knowing stare.

“What did you do Eren?”

Eren pales. “Nothing.” The lie doesn't last longer than a minute before he sighs dejectedly and tells the truth.

His sister makes no movements, does nothing to show any hints that she might be angry. “You were shot in the head.” she says plainly. “And you died.”

“Yes?” Eren squeaks, looking for all the world like a child caught doing something he shouldn't have, which looks pretty funny from someone his size.

“Huh.” his sister says, grabbing her bag and walking to the door. “We'll talk about this later.” she says before she brushes past Levi and heads down to the car.

Eren groans. “Thanks a lot.” he grouches, pouting at Levi. “Now she's gonna kill me.”

“Judging from past experience, I feel like that wouldn't do much to you. You seem to be pretty tough to kill.”

“That won't stop her from trying.” Eren says as he grabs his things and heads for the door as well. “She's almost as persistent as me. You just doomed me.”

“You'll live.”

Eren groans again


End file.
